Biometric Security - Expert commentary

As the cost-of-living crisis intensifies in 2023, owners of construction companies will place a greater emphasis on environmentally-friendly materials, public safety, and strategies to increase value. Physical protection Key events in 2023 will have an impact on the physical protection of people, property, and businesses. King Charles III's coronation in May will be the focus of nationwide large-scale gatherings and celebrations and is already receiving security preparations. Even though this...

The UK’s future depends on our children. Within the four walls of classrooms around the country, young minds are inspired, practical skills are learnt, and new passions are established; these will be tapped into by pupils for decades to come. To make sure outmoded security measures are not having an adverse effect on the performance within, we must first examine the limits and physical safeguards around these educational institutions. When planning and building any facility for the educat...

With shoplifting up, 21% in 2022, Peter Jackson, managing director of Jacksons Fencing explores how retail businesses can better protect their premises from opportunistic thieves. We think of shoplifting as people walking out of a store, pockets bulging with unpaid-for goods. However, in town centres and retail parks, the rear doors of shops and delivery areas can be an opportunity for theft on a much grander scale. Thefts and break-ins It’s not uncommon for thefts to be perpetrated fr...

Residential burglaries and break-ins are a problem for many homeowners. The FBI estimates there were approximately 1,117,696 burglaries in 2019 in the United States, which accounted for 16.1% of property crimes. Having proper home security can not only protect your home and belongings, but it can also keep your family safe. Even if you’re new to the idea of having and using smart home security devices, it’s easy to get started. This guide will provide the information and actionable...

With Black Friday on the horizon and shops and warehouses busier than ever, Elliot Roddy, Operations Director at CDX Security Group has shared some tips on how to keep the must-have gift items safe and secure: Regular monitoring and CCTV, Stock control and audits, and Partner with a trusted security firm. Staying alert with the must-have items  Each year, we see certain items gain popularity and become the year's must-haves. This year, social media and the rise of TikTok have accel...

In the past five years, the retail landscape and the relationship between consumers and businesses has shifted drastically. It wasn’t too long ago when shopping at malls was considered a family activity and consumers shopped at local stores where they knew and interacted with sales personnel. Today, however, malls and interactions with employees are relics that accurately portray the way retail used to work. Retail companies have shifted their consumer model to focus on the online market...

The outlook for advancements in door security solutions is proving to be an extension of the positive trends that have emerged over the past few years and that continue to evolve in exciting new ways. That’s a good sign as we make our way along the road toward an ever-safer world. Improvements in a hybrid workforce  Here’s what we’re seeing: More and more companies are rethinking the office space and how electronic access control (EAC) security and data can help better s...

There’s a new security paradigm emerging across malls, server farms, smart office buildings, and warehouses, and its advantage over the status quo are so broad they are impossible to ignore. Instead of a lecture, let’s start with a short narrative scenario to illustrate my point. Darryl's work Darryl works as a security guard at the Eastwood Mall. Like any typical evening, tonight’s shift begins at 9:30 PM, as the stores close and the crowds thin. His first task: Ensure that...

In recent years, multinational corporations such as Cathay Pacific, Facebook, Uber, and numerous others have been heavily fined due to security and data protection violations. This period has seen data protection laws increase as more and more information is gathered and shared online. As such, it becomes crucial to account for security capabilities when choosing an embedded device that touches potentially sensitive data. RFID readers RFID readers very much belong to the ecosystem wherein per...

Although the wider adoption of 5G, together with faster connection speeds and improved bandwidth, opens up new prospects for telecom service providers, it also poses new risks in terms of network security. This article explains how telcos can make their newly-established 5G networks as well as telecom software solutions more impenetrable and secure. Implement robust device authentication protocols 5G is set to spur a wide-scale adoption of connected devices in the business and consumer sphere...

The growing mobile ownership rate, the emergence of more user-friendly banking apps, the tech-native younger generation, and, of late, the pandemic-induced shift to online, all create a fertile ground for mobile banking. Unfortunately, the acceleration of banking app adoption today goes hand in hand with the increase of targeted security threats. In 2022, a month wouldn’t go by without a headline-making mobile banking attack or incident that resulted in stolen funds and sensitive personal...

The smartphone is an integral part of our daily routines. The communication and entertainment device of yesteryear has become a serious player with which we increasingly handle sensitive processes, such as payment transactions. BLE or NFC authentication At the supermarket checkout, more and more customers are pulling out their smartphones instead of their wallets. Apple Pay, Google Pay, or specific banking apps make it possible: to hold the smartphone in front of the reader of the checkout sys...

Cloud-based video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) is in a period of significant growth at present. In fact, the global VSaaS industry was valued at $2.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $4.7 billion by 2025. Part of the reason for this growth is the increased adoption of the technology within shops, restaurants, and other retail settings. A cloud-based video management system can be valuable for businesses of all kinds, but those in the retail or restaurant industries are often able t...

The banking market continues to evolve through the growing use of digital and mobile devices, as more branch operations aim to enhance convenience and service for the customer. These advancements also create more significant opportunities for fraud and loss. Together, these two trends come full circle: Increasingly sophisticated fraud techniques require organisations to pursue new approaches to preventing and detecting such activities. Digital transformation But before we lead down that path,...

One of the biggest security trends in the last two years has been the adoption of cloud-based services, spearheaded mainly by an increasing number of video surveillance-as-a-service (VSaaS) offerings. VSaaS market value According to MarketsandMarkets Research, the global VSaaS market value is expected to reach $6.2 billion by 2026. This growth is propelled by demand for remote access video services, less local hardware to maintain, new internet-enabled devices, and a lower total cost of owners...

Organisations have shifted business focus countless times since the onset of the pandemic. While many leaders have been primarily concerned with the immediate health and safety of their customers and employees, 2022 has given rise to a new trend: More than ever, business leaders are seeking security solutions that increase operational efficiency and cost savings as well as improve logistics and business insight. As working environments become more complex, organisations looking to drive higher...

Back in 1890, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis published a ground-breaking article in the Harvard Law review called ‘The Right to Privacy’. To this day, it is regarded as one of the most influential essays in the history of American law and is widely regarded as the first publication in the United States of America to advocate a right to privacy, articulating that right primarily as a ‘right to be let alone’. In this essay, the authors questioned whether the arrival of p...

We must leverage existing technologies like social media monitoring, gunshot and weapons detection, and real-time watchlist alerting. We owe it to our children. The recent news of the Dallas elementary school shooting absolutely gutted me. It’s a tragic and incomprehensible loss of life. A question I hear being asked again and again – could technology have made a difference? From my experience, modern technologies can help schools mitigate some of the damage and provide an early w...

The world around us is full of technological innovation. Smart locks are commonplace in our homes and control access to buildings, but when it comes to industrial locking and access control for equipment cabinetry, options can seem limited. Equally, there’s not enough accessible information to act as a guide. The development of new technologies and cabinet capabilities feels as though it is being held back. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Common problems are seen across the l...

With increasing security and public health concerns, contactless credentials are gaining more and more importance. Contactless credentials can be divided into two main categories: soft credentials that include mobile phone applications that tap into their BLE/NFC hardware and transmit the data, and hard credentials that typically include low frequency (125 kHz) and high frequency (13.56MHz) based passive RFID transponders. With the help of these credentials, organisations can tackle safety conc...

Every day, millions of people worldwide use their personal credentials to prove their identity and access a range of services, from databases in their workplace to the banking app on their smartphone. But while this ensures only authorised people have access to certain systems, the use of this personal data opens users up to cyber risks, primarily in the form of identity theft. On Identity Management Day, Source Security spoke to seven IT and cybersecurity experts to discuss their experiences a...

Most individuals have strong opinions about what is more essential to our civilisation: personal privacy or security. After more than a decade of technology enabling greater and greater amounts of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and data harvesting, now the pendulum is swinging towards a society that places more emphasis on individual rights and privacies. This shift is manifesting in a variety of ways, quickly changing the technology, security and cyber security landscapes, and requi...

Most of the assumptions you’ve made about gunshot detection could be wrong. To those security professionals who stay on top of their homework, this is probably not true, but the ‘you’ in this context is directed to the collective security industry reader that, when looking into indoor gunshot detection products, sees terms like concussive force, percussion, or shockwave and wonders if these are important differentiators – or something the marketing department decided woul...

There is little doubt that security concerns have heightened in the near two years since the pandemic first swept across the globe. A report from Pro-Vigil reveals that nearly one in five companies experienced more physical security incidents since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one in three of the 124 respondents surveyed anticipate further increases in 2021. The tragic terrorist attacks experienced during this period in the UK have caused many organisations to make changes to their...

This is an era of digital revolution and with it comes dozens of new security dangers. Every gadget, from our smartphones to our security cameras, need some kind of protection from external hacking. However, how can we assure the safety of our devices, workplaces, etc.? Biometric security is one such security method that has emerged, since it is both efficient and perceived foolproof. It offers an additional layer of security for businesses and personal security systems. Biometric security syste...

Fingerprint biometrics is hugely relevant in the current landscape. Even amidst other newer developments, fingerprint authentication provides convenience and affordability. There are talks rife about how the coronavirus pandemic has changed the outlook towards fingerprint biometrics. What is currently the most used authentication technology is being speculated to be unsafe, when compared to other touchless biometrics and that its usage in the future would decrease significantly. However, the adv...

As we navigate the new normal, the power of choice and flexibility continues to take centre stage. We’ve grown accustomed to the choice to work from home or virtually anywhere and the flexibility to have everything delivered (sometimes even right into your fridge!). Seamless access control With this, we are seeing heightened demand for seamless access control through smart locks and mobile credentials. This powerful combination creates exciting new opportunities to meet resident demand f...

As a result of COVID-19, artificial intelligence (AI) has become table stakes for factories. Google’s 2021 Cloud Manufacturing Report found that 76% of manufacturing executives increased their adoption of disruptive technologies, including AI, during the pandemic. AI-based facial recognition technology AI has long been used in the sector to monitor the pace of work and anticipate machine failures, a trend that is expected to continue this year as factories look to optimise operations. Ho...

Corporate global security operations centres (GSOCs) bear the responsibility for protecting C-suite executives from physical and reputational harm amid the social upheaval, extreme weather events, and escalating cyber threats. That mission, daunting as it is, becomes more difficult when GSOCs lack the data necessary for conducting a comprehensive threat assessment. Threat intelligence Unfortunately, many centres never move past basic threat intelligence which focuses on scenario-driven queries...

As we enter into 2022, there is still a level of uncertainty in place. It’s unclear what the future holds, as companies around the world still contend with the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working has been encouraged by most organisations and the move to a hybrid working system has become ‘business as usual’, for the majority of businesses. Some have reduced their office space or done away with their locations altogether. Following best security practices With all this change in...